Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Some people
have wondered about my notable silence since the election. Actually
I've been relatively quiet since the Mike Brown murder (yes this has
been me quiet.) When Trump won the election, I was angry and sad, but
not surprised. My anger was directed at you who were surprised. I
really don’t want to make this a race issue but of course I will. I
like flinging around the Race Card like my name is Gambit. I’ve
been angry, Black angry, which if you have been paying attention is
really fucking angry. I’ve been angry, not at the Trump supporters
but the White people who were in denial, who turned a blind eye to
all the signs that trump was going to win. Over the last 4 years
police have been murdering Black men and women in the streets and
receiving cash compensation for it. There were hate crimes against
Muslims just going about their days that were written off as lone
nuts with a grudge instead of racially motivated slayings. There were
blatant attempts at voter suppression in the South and blatant
poisoning of PoC in Michigan. College kids in the Midwest wore
racially offensive costumes every chance they got. Women couldn’t
be on the internet without being threatened with rape and murder
(Gimme Shelter) regularly.

Speaking
of internet threats, every Black person who dared have an opinion
about the shitty way we have been, are, and will be treated in
America woke up every morning to hundreds of tweets and posts from
White people telling them that everything they think, know, and feel
is wrong. Over Thanksgiving, Facebook was rife with posts about
people being afraid to go home and deal with their families who were
inevitably filled with Trump supporters. White “liberals” for
lack of a better term were utterly convinced of their victory, and to
an extent I understood. The idea of Trump winning, on the surface,
was laughable at best, implausible at worst. But then, 4 years ago I
would have thought it improbably that police would murder a 10 year
old and refuse him medical treatment, or murder a Black man for
wielding a toy gun in a store full of toy guns. But, here we are. And
on November 9th,
2016 yea there was much gnashing of teeth and beating of breast. “How
could this happen!” the people cried. And I looked at them and said
“how could it not?”

Who, exactly
do you think those people voted for? The people who donated money to
George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson? The Gamergate people. The Tea
Party. “The 1%.” Those people from the suburbs who never met a
Black person in their life who go to work in the worst parts of the
city. The people who complain that “illegals” are abusing the
Medicaid system. The White teachers who only deal with the most
troubled and disadvantaged Black children. The people who blame the
decline of their town/shit-kickerville state on Obama. Those people
who blame every cramp and hangnail on Obama. The people worried about
“the gays.” Those people who have more cops in their families
than Black acquaintances. The people who think Facebook started
racism. The dregs in middle management who are so miserable with
their failed existences they they take out their impotent fury on
their far more talented Brown coworkers and curse “affirmative
action.” The conspiracy nuts, the anti-vaxxers, the doomsday
preppers, all the heavily armed fringe-White psychos, who do you
think they voted for? Who do you think they are?

So yes, I’ve
been angry. Then a weird thing happened; I started seeing people who
had never expressed an opinion about any of the horrors of the world
start opening their mouths, or at least, taking to their keyboards.
Many of you got a real ice-bucket challenge, the cold reality that a
lot of your so-called friends actually don’t give a fuck about your
feelings or your welfare. It was funny for me to see people posting
about having to unfriend “friends” who were all for taking rights
away from everyone. I laughed. I didn’t unfriend anyone last year,
because I unfriended every one of those assholes who posted anything
about “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter.” Turns out
they seemed to have a high correlation with Trump voters. Shocking
right? I had no sanitizing to do; it had been done, because I saw all
of this coming. “But John” you say, “if you were so all-knowing
and wise, why didn’t you do anything to stop this?” While it’s
true that I am all-knowing and wise, I can’t do everything myself.
In fact there is one thing I specifically can’t do; change white
people’s minds. These Trump voters have no real understanding or
emotional connection with anyone who doesn’t look or think like
them, so it is the people who look like them who have to change the
way the conservative Trump voter thinks.

Hell I
couldn’t get the people on my side to take the necessary action to
head off this disaster, what can I do about the people who don’t?
And here’s the kicker; the Trump voter is invisible. Yeah you can
spot the fanatics from a mile away, because they want you to see
them. But your boss at your publishing firm, your dry cleaner, your
mailman, the people who you have a pleasant relationship, the people
who send you Christmas cards, the people you think have Black
friends, those are the Trump voters. They weren’t going to any
inauguration. They weren’t proud. They’re happy enough knowing
that their local, state, and federal government is busy taking civil
rights away from minorities, women, and in many cases themselves. You
know who voted for Trump? Women with BCBS, Aetna, Cigna, Humana, they
don’t have to worry about Planned Parenthood, or abortions, because no one will fuck those unfuckable hags.

Sorry. That
was uncalled for.

My
point is that White women with financial privilege don’t give one
spare fuck about White women who don’t have the same financial
privilege. Lately I’ve been seeing White women go to war with each
other over reproductive and civil rights, and it’s been lowering my
blood pressure. These arguments are what will save America, because
the last push the Sanity Party needs is for White women to, as a
group, get on board with taking down conservative White male rule.
The highbrow reason that I love these fights is that I feel like we
as Black people are finally getting the help from so called allies
that we have been asking for decades now. The lowbrow reason is I
like seeing White people fight among themselves. But seriously, now
is not the time for silences. A war can be won with words... mostly
violence, but words too. Words change minds and most importantly, can
change votes. Words can inspire empathy and compassion. Words can
humble even the most ill-informed Trump supporter (redundant.) White
women have to take a long hard look at themselves and really figure
out if their priorities are to women or to preserving White
supremacy, because those are not two great tastes that taste great
together. Are your allegiances to your race, to the “patriarchal”
institutions that oppress you or to other women? Are you vocal for PP
but silent about Sandra Bland? You, you reading this, know a woman
who is all for Trump and for stripping women of all civil liberties
and access to healthcare, because those are things they never worry
about. I don't know how to change that. Maybe before marching against
men, some of you need to march against each other. I don't know,
these aren't questions I have answers to. The rest of us PoC got our
shit together to stop Trump, but y'all dropped the ball.

In
short, Dear White People; please unfuck yourselves before over half
of you get the rest of us killed. BTW if you're reading this I am
totally not talking about you. You're one of the good ones.

Want to Syndicate Me?

About Me

Exit Eleven refers to the Exit off of the NJ Turnpike of which I have lived most of my life (I have lived off of Exits 10 and 9 for a few years) but most of my life I've lived off of Exit 11. It's a Jersey thing, some people are proud of and some people despise it, but we all know what exit we live off of. It is sort of ingrained in our DNA. I happen to be proud of it, and my state. That's why I named my Blog after it.

Exit 11 is mostly reader driven, meaning I write about what people around me want to read about at the time, or what is going on in my life at the time. Other times I just write about whatever is going on socially. Hopefully it's funny, but it's always relevant. Mostly.

I'm just a normal guy who has an opinion about absolutely everything under the sun. I am a combination Writer/Psychologist, which gives me a unique perspective on life, the universe, and everything. My two favorite subjects are Love and Race, but I cover everything eventually.